Hey, did you guys hear the LILLEbaby (my absolutely favorite carrier on the market) is up for a Cribsie?! To celebrate, they are generously sponsoring a giveaway! Huzzah!

The LÍLLÉbaby Ambassadors are celebrating our love for LÍLLÉbaby with a giveaway just for you!

Enter to win a LÍLLÉbaby Carrier of your choice! This means that you can choose any (in stock) LÍLLÉbaby carrier style and print/color of your choice. You can choose from Tokidoki prints, Elephant Party, Frosted Rose, Embossed, and more - plus any new releases between now and January 29th! I am honored to be a LÍLLÉbaby Ambassador and thrilled that my favorite carrier is nominated for Comfiest Carrier in the 2016 Cribsie Awards!Comment below and tell me what carrier/print you will choose if you win! Then, start entering!

Let me preface this post by saying that it is completely unsponsored and unsolicited, but is, rather, the result of my own excitement at finding a company that really seems to understand the horrifyingly painful experience that is job searching. The tie-in to parenting is this: in today's economy, there are so very many parents out there who are struggling to find happiness in a meaningful career while balancing that personal fulfillment need with the very real and material need to provide for a family. Any time I find something that can RE-moralize the parenting masses, I joyfully skip to my computer to share away (The joy mentioned there is very literal. The skipping, however, is quite figurative as, were I to truly attempt to skip, I'd likely end up on my face and never actually make it to the computer to share my exciting news.)

Yesterday, I outlined the basics of the Postpartum Progress Warrior Mom Conference. Today? Well, today I'd like to get a little more personal. Today, I'd like to share, as difficult as it is, this mass of raw emotions I'm left with in the wake of this fabulous gathering of women. We've talked about what the conference was. Now, let's talk about how the conference felt.

July 11-12, 2015 brought a momentous event to the world of maternal mental health: the inaugural Postpartum ProgressWarrior Mom Conference (#WarriorMomCon). Now, some of you may be wondering WHY there's a conference, what it's all about, and why I think it's especially significant for mothers and healthcare workers alike. I don't think I can really put it better than Katherine Stone, the founder of Postpartum Progress, so I'll borrow some imagery from her opening keynote.

When addressing the "why" of the Warrior Mom's Conference, Katherine explained that there are two reasons. The first reason is YOU (the mother who has survived--who is climbing back up out of the darkness of perinatal emotional complications). The second reason is all the other moms who will fall off the edge of that cliff. They need some of us, their fellow adventurers in the wilderness of motherhood, to circle back around and pull them out. Those of us who are beginning to see the sunlight on the horizon can be the safety rope that keeps other moms from sliding too far.

And so...we have #WarriorMomCon, where we learn to tie off, to smooth our own frays, and where we can maybe even grab a climbing buddy or fifty.

When we're wrapped up in our own struggles, sometimes struggling to even take life one breath at a time, it's can be hard (ok, damn near impossible, really) to focus on what's going on around you--on the people strapped into the roller coaster ride with you. That's why, today, I'm sharing a Warrior DAD story.

Yesterday, I was having a particularly rough time and whining to Mr. TFT about my anxiety, stress and exhaustion. His response? "Well, check out what I just sent you. Maybe that will help." When I opened what he'd sent me? I started crying, because, you guys? It was HIS side of MY story. HIS story, really. And it hurt to read. To remember the pain, the struggle, and all the things I missed. It hurt to know that I had put my family through that. But at the same time, it was a beautiful reminder of what I tell other moms all the time: You are not alone. Whether it's a husband, a friend, a parent, a sibling, or an internet support group you've never met in person (HOLLA to the other Postpartum Progress Warrior Moms). It was also a good reminder to myself not to feed the stigma that we are working so hard to break. Maternal mental illness is NOT something we put our families through--that implies, in my mind, an active choice. It's an illness, like any other.

Today is Day 3 in our week of awareness for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) in honor of the 3rd Annual Postpartum Progress Climb Out of the Darkness happening all over the country (and in some OTHER countries!!) on Saturday, June 20th.